Black Beans with Kale & Roasted Squash

I only cook recipes for my blog a few days a week, when my schedule permits.  The rest of the time I make stuff up in the kitchen (without photographic evidence) or rely heavily on quesadillas, frozen soups, toast & eggs or sometimes cereal for dinner.  Two nights ago I made Molly’s black beans for myself and added Kale to the mix. There I was, bouncing up and down at the dinner table! I was so delighted with my dish but had no one to share it with. Casey had a work dinner, which meant I ate a LOT of beans!

He was home for dinner last night, and despite having it two nights in a row I couldn’t wait to make it for him.  Even though it’s kinda hippy/crunchy food, I knew he would enjoy the kick/depth of the black beans and the sweet & savory aspect of the roasted delicata squash & apples.

The light has been disappearing earlier in the evenings, so my cooking schedule is totally messed up as a result! I didn’t feel like whipping out my camera flash, so my trusty cellphone will help tell the tale 🙂

I chopped up 1 large delicata squash.

Then sliced up 2 Granny Smith Apples roughly the same size as the squash.

And chopped up 1/2  a red onion.

Tossed all of it together with olive oil, salt & pepper and roasted them in the oven at 425 for about 25 -30 mins.

(Rosemary or sage would have been good herbs to mix in!)

Every 10 minutes or so, I stirred the pan. I might have crowded the pan a little, but most of the delicata squash got browned-just the way I like it!

Some of the apples broke up and the skins separated, but they tasted pretty damn good!

While that was roasting, I sauteed 1 chopped yellow onion with 2 cloves of minced garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until transparent.

I added 2- 15.oz cans of black beans with their juices, to the pot and simmered. I added 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 heaping teaspoon of oregano, and sprinkled the top with salt & pepper.

While the beans  sputtered about, I chopped up 6 fat kale leaves, finely.

I added the kale to the beans with 1/4 cup of cilantro and stewed it for a bit longer. I added a few splashes of hot sauce to add a little heat. If you are vegan or vegetarian you can stop here. You’ll love what has developed!

I took half of the beans and set them aside for my non meat portion. We had some leftover steak in the fridge, so I roughly chopped it and threw it in the beans and cooked it off for another 5 minutes.

Earlier that day, I ran out of brown rice in my pantry and cooked wheat berries instead! I tossed them in my rice cooker and used the QUICK setting. It turned out great! I’ll be doing more of wheat berry experimenting soon!  You’ll find it super crunchy and hearty! Like al dente wild rice meets nutty brown rice.

I took a scoop of wheat berries and put it on a plate, added my roasted delicata squash & apples and spooned some of black beans to the side of the wheat berries.

I bet sour cream would be a good addition or some fresh squeezed lime juice. IYou could totally make your own burrito bowl out of this concoction.

And the next day I had leftovers (of the non meat portion) for lunch!

Playing around in the kitchen is FUN.

  • miss james

    yummm! it’s such a perfect fall meal. i loooove.

  • Rachel

    Looks like you get a lot of deliciousness for your effort/time in the kitchen with this meal. I love the apple, squash, onion combination and I bet it’s great with the spicy beans.

  • Patricia

    Looks Fab!

    Do you think Rapini would be a suitable substitute for the Kale?? I just bought some today and havent decided what to do with it yet?

    • Tracy

      might be a little on the bitter side, but go ahead! As long as you have something sweet in there to be balance it, it should be fine!

  • Jessica

    ahhhh, another kale recipe! 🙂 I think I might try this one first because I’m a sucker for black beans.

    by the way, I often do the camera phone thing at night to avoid flash, too! Do you use Hipstamatic or a different app?

    • Tracy

      It’s called Vignette (on my HTC Evo) Love it! I used to think that camera phone hipstamatic stuff was overrated. Now i LOOOOOVE it.

  • Katrina

    Awesome dinner. This looks soooo good!

  • Elizabeth

    Just as a side note – I fancy up beans in a similar fashion, but was told by a friend that cumin and oregano are both spices that need heat to “open up”… so once my onion and garlic is almost transparent, I add the cumin and oregano. I stir it around, and let the paste that forms simmer for just a bit – like 30 seconds to a minute – then the your black beans. If you give it a try you might find it adds a little more depth to your cumin and oregano flavor. Similar is true for Indian spices, like curry powder…

    Will certainly try the squash/apple/onion roasting, it looks delicious!

    • Tracy

      Yes! I’ve tried that technique in many recipes! I kinda liked the subtle hint of cumin in this one. My neighbor who isn’t a huge fan of cumin loved it- and maybe that’s why! I’ll work on that the next batch.

  • blackbookkitchendiaries

    this recipe sounds so good.. i am craving for some right now.

  • LimeCake

    a really hearty meal! love the cilantro cumin thing you’ve got going on

  • Michelle

    Looks like it’d be fun to turn all those ingredients into a soup with some small pasta instead of rice. Wheels turning!

  • Dinetonite

    I enjoyed your blog very much. The information was interest to me. Thanks for sharing the recipe

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